Photo courtesy of malekjandali.com

Ancient music pleads for a modern peace

12 REFUGEE TRANSITIONS • ISSUE 33 PROFILE

Award-winning Syrian-American and pianist Malek Jandali performed in Sydney during Refugee Week as part of his debut Australian tour. He speaks to OLGA YOLDI about his music and his longing for a peaceful .

Your concerts have captivated audiences around the call them concentration camps – because music is such world. Tell us more about how The Voice of the free a good therapy. The last time, I took instruments for Syrian children brings to the fore the conflict in Syria. the children in Jordan, but to my surprise they didn’t I will perform in many US cities and countries around want them. They quickly told me they really wanted the world. The objective is to give the voiceless a voice umbrellas: “We want to cover ourselves when we go to through music. The profits go to support humanitarian the latrines.” So I went back to and bought as aid for Syrian children affected by war inside and many as I could, then went back to Jordan and gave them outside Syria. to the grateful kids. I feel blessed and humbled to have this opportunity That was a slap in the face. The children asked me to to assist children in this way. I tend to believe that music look at reality, and listen to them, because we are in our has the ability to unite people and connects us with who comfort zones we are unaware of how dramatically their we are. Music – and art in general – can be agents for needs have changed. positive change. Music contributes not only to building bridges between people, but also in bringing to the You integrate ancient melodies from Aleppo and the forefront our shared humanity and common values. into your works? Through music we learn about one another, it somehow Yes, I believe it is my mission to preserve Syria’s musical creates this dialogue between people and spotlights those heritage. I have also composed and performed Echoes aspects we have in common, rather than our differences. from Ugarit [www.youtube.com/watch?v=k41_3tPJvXU]. Nowadays we believe we are all connected through the Ugarit in Syria is the place where the first documented internet, yet we are really more disconnected than ever music notation was discovered from more than before. Through my work I always strive for a meeting 3,400 years ago. My composition, including music for of the minds in transforming the current narrative. and orchestra, was recorded with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra. Its release was accompanied As an artist you work with children in the countries by a successful tour of the US, Europe and the Middle you visit. How was your workshop at the Sydney East. But my music is inspired by the Syrian people and Conservatorium of Music? their quest for freedom and human rights. My music I try to connect with the next generation of artists before gives a voice to the resilience and hope of the children they face life’s challenges. I share my own life experiences I have met in refugee camps. in order to make it easier for them to face their own challenges. That is why I am so keen to get involved with In 2015 you founded for Peace, a non-profit students through music competitions, workshops or visits organisation that spreads the joy of music. What was to schools. I feel honoured to do it and it’s always such its aim? a gratifying and inspiring experience. Pianos for Peace was established to make music accessible I reminded the students during the workshop in to disadvantage communities and build peace through Sydney how lucky they are to be living in a free country music and education. It was created to fill a gap, as not and encouraged them to take advantage of it, to express everyone gets to experience the joy music brings on a their feelings or tell their story to the world through the daily basis. I believe art loses its power and meaning if music they create. I also reminded them how powerful it doesn’t impact on every segment of our society. they are as artists, how important it is for them to believe So Pianos for Peace is an annual open festival of in themselves, follow their dreams and make a difference, music using colourful pianos (painted by local artists) no matter how many challenges they face. to inspire artists and unite people in the community of I also take my music to refugee camps – although I where I live. The pianos are placed in public

ANCIENT MUSIC PLEADS FOR A MODERN PEACE 13 spaces and parks for everyone to enjoy and play. After the festival they are donated to communities in need, “It is disturbing to think such as schools, hospitals, nursing homes and organisations that every time I play a note, helping the disadvantaged. We have also given some of the pianos to deserving musicians. perform and compose a piece of During the Pianos for Peace festival volunteer musicians music, someone is getting killed, also contribute to outreach programs to disadvantaged communities in order to revitalise music education. a building is being destroyed Some people warned us that if we left the pianos and a child is drowning.” unattended in public places they would be stolen, but we had no issues. People even protected them from the rain. One day I saw this homeless guy who sat at one of the pianos and played a Chopin Polonaise beautifully. Suddenly people did not see a homeless man, they saw an artist.

You were born in , raised in , Syria, and now live in the US. How did you become a composer? I attended a performance of a Mozart piano concerto – that’s all it took for me to want to learn to play country vital to many interests. How do you see the an instrument. I gave my first piano concerto at the age conflict unfolding? of eight. Let’s be clear, the fundamental cause of the war in Syria Yes, I was born in Germany, but moved to Homs is the result of a brutal dictatorship wanting to remain with my family as a young child and was raised there. I in power at all costs. The abuses perpetrated by the regime received a scholarship and went to the US in 1994 and were defined as state terrorism by the West in 1972. So I now live there permanently. I left Syria before the war in a way this is nothing new. The question is, what has because there were simply no opportunities for me there. been done since 1972 to address it? I became a classical pianist, then a composer and It is traumatic to have to witness the cultural and when the started I turned into a peace social destruction of my country. Yes, the war is a fiasco activist as well. I don’t belong to any political party. I am of powerful interests, but genocide has been perpetrated just a humble artist, but I do value freedom and against the Syrian people. The conflict has displaced 11 particularly the freedom to express one’s art, which are million who have fled their homes, 13.5 million essential rights I could not enjoy growing up in Syria. are in need of humanitarian assistance, 6.6 million are Apart from not being free, there was little respect for internally displaced and 4.8 million have fled to the most basic human rights. surrounding countries and later Europe. Many of these When I first became a peace activist in the US, the are children. Syrian police decided to attack my parents in revenge. For the past six years the West has failed to prevent It was only when I saw the images of my own mother or stop the abuses. All it has done is classify the Syrian beaten, downtrodden, with broken teeth and black eyes people escaping the violence as “migrants”, “refugees” or, that I realised the extent of the regime’s brutality. if still living in Syria, “displaced persons”. This language To me there is no doubt the political system is going objectifies the victims. a long way to repress its people and undermine democracy. If you check the Oxford Dictionary definition of the Journalists are being targeted and the media is tightly word “migrant”, it refers equally to animal migration, controlled by the government. The system also dislikes usually a bird or to a seasonal worker looking for a job. artists or anyone else who gives expression to what I Recently I was at Oxford University where I participated would call beauty and truth. They will soon be in trouble in a panel discussion on The Effects of Migration in because truth is powerful, and beauty is even more Europe. I was the only Syrian and the last speaker, so I powerful than truth. told the audience to refrain themselves from calling Syrian babies migrants, because they are not animals, The Syrian civil war is the most disastrous conflict of and not to define mothers as seasonal workers, because recent times. The abuse and destruction that has they are simply human beings fleeing violence. It is easy overtaken the country is tragic. Yet Syria is also a to objectify people by using terms that distort reality.

14 REFUGEE TRANSITIONS • ISSUE 33 Malek Jandali addresses the audience prior to the ‘Ode to Syria’ concert, St Stephens Uniting Church, Sydney, marking National Refugee Week and 26 June: UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Presented by Sydney Peace Foundation in partnership with STARTTS, Amnesty International Australia and Brave Media. Photo courtesy Kunchok Gyaltsen

We Syrians face a terrible war. That is why the baby now. The lack of reliable information and the repetitive and the mother rejecting violence are going out onto images of destruction are not having the effect terrorist the ocean in the hope of finding peace in a distant land, attacks in Europe are having on people. Initially there when many times they end up dying. Everyone was was interest, but after a while people get tired. aware of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old boy whose Thisis the most documented and filmed conflict image made global headlines after he drowned in 2015 in mankind’s history. Yet there is a lack of reliable in the Mediterranean Sea. It became news for a month, information as the government controls the media and it and then everyone carried on with their lives. is highly dangerous for independent journalists to report This shows the state of dehumanisation we are from Syria. experiencing today, when we allow children to be gassed A military defector called Caesar (whose job was to to death or drown in the Mediterranean and nobody take pictures of civilians in prisons), smuggled more than does anything to prevent it. It is shameful. 50,000 photographs out of Syria in 2013. The Caesar As an artist my response to this tragedy needs to photographs identified victims and showed some of the be positive, emphasising our common humanity. The key causes of death. Many of those photos were taken Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is to premiere my in detention centres or military hospitals. symphony called The Silent Ocean, based on a young When Human Rights Watch received a full set of girl who escapes the Syrian war. She is forced to leave images it published a report called If the Dead Could her home, cannot take any belongings with her but a Speak: Mass Deaths and Torture in Syria’s Detention melody. Thankfully, nobody can see music so nobody Facilities. It researched the human stories behind can take it away from her. The symphony is about the thousands of photos and found evidence of widespread power of music in the face of adversity. I am hoping torture, starvation, beatings and disease in Syrian politicians will attend this concert. Government facilities. So people were starved, beaten There seems to be much apathy about the Syrian War and tortured in a systematic way and on a massive scale.

ANCIENT MUSIC PLEADS FOR A MODERN PEACE 15 Photo courtesy of malekjandali.com

16 REFUGEE TRANSITIONS • ISSUE 33 Malek Jandali in conversation with Archibald prize winning artist, Ben Quilty at NSW Parliament, Sydney on World Refugee Day. Photo, Dhondup Tsering

ANCIENT MUSIC PLEADS FOR A MODERN PEACE 17 Photo courtesy of malekjandali.com

According to Human Rights Watch, the pictures present oppression. In spite of everything Syrian children evidence of crimes against humanity. If this is not continue to sing, learn, draw, but they want to go back enough evidence to prompt the international community home and help rebuild Syria. I imagine that every child to do something about it, what is? When this conflict I have met is like a phoenix in exile rising from the ashes. ends we will look back at this terrible episode in our This is what inspires me and motivates me to compose history and we will seek to avoid such conflicts in the and continue to raise awareness. future. We did not learn from the Holocaust. Hopefully I believe once the war ends we are going to create a this time we will. much more beautiful Syria through music, art, and the With a change in government, the Syrian people will free spirit of these children. That is why my work was figure out a way to live in peace. After all, Syria was called the Free Spirit of the Syrian Children. the cradle of civilisation. My ancestors invented the As I said, the fundamental problem in Syria is the alphabet and music notations. We are a 10,000-year-old dictatorship. The solution is simple: get rid of the civilisation with very rich culture, although the standards dictatorship which is the fundamental cause of the of art performance have declined dramatically in the conflict so that people can live in peace. That is why my past decade. symphonies are all about peace. Life goes on for many Syrians who have sought refuge It is disturbing to think that every time I play a note, in other countries. Many are integrating well into new perform and compose a piece of music, someone is getting countries. Despite the difficulties of resettlement some killed, a building is being destroyed and a child is are actually thriving and excelling in countries such as drowning. It is my mission to eternalise their silence Germany and even here in Australia and Canada, because through a symphony that emphasises not the destruction, they are persevering and are free from violence and but the beauty of the Syrian people.

18 REFUGEE TRANSITIONS • ISSUE 33 Photo courtesy of malekjandali.com 19